Recipes

Side Dishes

Mini Potato Cakes

The original Potato Cake recipe calls for making a large, skillet-size pancake and dividing it into four wedges once it's browned. In this rendition, we cut out the dough into 3-inch round minicakes instead.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

2 tablespoons butter, chilled

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes (leftover mashed potatoes work great)

1 tablespoon of fat-free half-and-half or low-fat milk (if needed)

Canola cooking spray

About 1 tablespoon canola oil (optional)

Preparation:
1. Add flour to medium bowl. Using a plastic knife, cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until granules have formed. Measure the salt and baking powder and add to the flour mixture; stir well with fork.
2. Measure and mix in mashed potatoes. Knead mixture in the bowl with your hands, incorporating as much of the flour mixture into the mashed potatoes as you can. Add a tablespoon of fat-free half-and-half or milk, if needed, to make the mixture into dough.
3. Roll out the dough on a floured board, using a rolling pin, till about ½ inch thick. Cut dough into circles using a 3-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter.
4. Heat nonstick griddle or skillet over medium heat. Lightly grease bottom of pan with canola oil (or canola cooking spray). Add potato cakes to pan, spraying tops with canola cooking spray. When bottoms are nicely browned, flip cakes over with spatula to brown other side (if you want to add cheese on top of the cakes, do it now). When the underside is browned, remove cakes and put on serving plate.

Serving suggestion: Although it's not called for in the original recipe, these cakes are delicious when you sprinkle grated cheddar cheese over the top while the second side is cooking. By the time the second side has browned, the cheese is melted!